It began when we found a photograph of a Fish and Chip Shop in our parents' collection. We did not know who the person named in the photograph was nor where the shop was located, although we suspected that it was in or near Manchester. So we placed an enquiry on the Lancashire Board of RootsChat.com to try and find out.

With some brilliant help from "RootsChatters" it was established that the chip shop was located at 5 Bexley Square, Salford. It was then established that the occupant of the shop from 1912 to 1915 was Margaret Ellen Smyth.

From that and from checking Census and BMD records we discovered who her family were.  

We had been unable to find any of the Law family after 1891 until the 1911 Census was made available and revealed that the family had returned to Ireland where Hugh had died in 1893 and Eliza Jane had subsequently married again to a William Cochrane in 1897.

The RootsChat thread in which the story unfolds can be seen by selecting Fish and Chip Shop from the "Useful Links" section below.